Hey guys ChrisFix here And today i'm going to show you how to fix a car that has sugar in the gas tank Now this video not only applies to sugar in your gas tank But this also applies to if you put the wrong fuel in your tank Maybe you have a gas car and you put diesel in by mistake or something fell in the tank and you need to clean It out. I will cover that as well and that also includes rust. So maybe your fuel tank's rusted. Your fuel lines are rusted Whatever. It is, something's gunked up and you need to clean out the fuel tank. You need to drop it You need to replace the fuel filter replace the fuel pump clean out the fuel lines or clean out the fuel injectors I'm going to cover all that in this video So that you can easily clean out the entire fuel system Now if you missed the last video this car was vandalized pretty badly Let me show you so this is what it looked like before and in that video. I showed you how to safely remove All the spray paint so we went from this to this and this to this and from this to this and from this to this And finally this to this so we removed every speck of paint and now susan's looking amazing I'll be sure to link that video in the description But unfortunately spray painting the car isn't the only way they vandalized it You can see this fuel door does not lock You can see a little bit of sugar down there. And as you can imagine the fuel tank is loaded with sugar now This doesn't look that bad but it was much much worse when the car was delivered The truck driver told me the car ran out of gas So we needed to add some so we could pull it off the trailer and then when I added the gas I noticed there was sugar in the fuel filler hose, but we didn't have time to clean it out So I had to bite the bullet and add gas to the tank even though I flushed down a bunch of sugar Because we had to get this car off the trailer So I want to give you guys a realistic idea of what this looked like the day. I got the car So let's add some sugar plus by adding even more sugar i'm giving you an absolute Worst case scenario that way without a doubt you guys know You can fix your own car if you run into this problem Now you might be thinking this is really bad because there are myths out there saying you add sugar to the fuel tank It'll ruin the engine and well luckily for us. That is not true And the reason why it's not true is because sugar doesn't dissolve in gasoline and to prove that to you. I have this setup Right here So i'm adding regular table sugar to both of these jars and first Let's add some water to this jar and give it a stir and in about 10 seconds The water completely dissolves the sugar now Let's add gasoline to the sugar in the other jar and let's give this a stir and no matter how much I stir this The sugar does not dissolve. So as you just saw sugar will dissolve in water No problem, but it does not dissolve at all in gasoline, and that's a good thing That means it stays as solid and there's little granules that could be filtered out by our fuel filter Now these granules they range in size from 100 to 400 microns and our fuel filter for gasoline engines could filter down to 10 Microns, so that means the sugar can't get past the fuel filter. It filters it out, which is a good thing So all we need to do is drop the fuel tank clean it out and replace the fuel filter and we are good to go It's also a good idea to clean out the fuel pump assembly So we don't get any sugar running through the fuel pump and just in case you don't have sugar Maybe you have diesel water rust. Whatever It is in your fuel tank that gets past the fuel filter i'm going to show you how to clean out the fuel lines The fuel rail and fuel injectors. So we're going to clean the entire fuel system of this car Let's go get started since we're gonna have to remove the fuel tank with the front wheels blocked off Let's jack up the rear of the car High enough to drop that tank down then slide the ramps under the wheels and lower the car down onto the ramps And we didn't drive the car onto the ramps because we don't want to run the car with sugar in the tank So with the car safely lifted up here are all the tools and products We'll be using to get the job done as always. I like to start off by putting our safety glasses on And since we're working with the fuel system and gasoline It's a good idea to have a fire extinguisher on hand Now tool wise we're using all common hand tools so you can get the job done yourself at home a socket set some screwdrivers That's really all you need I am also using an air compressor to blow out those fuel lines and the fuel injectors and we'll be using 99 Isopropyl alcohol as our solvent to clean them out Now I did say you are gonna need a new fuel filter But unfortunately in this car the fuel filter is built into the fuel pump assembly So I have a brand new oem one just in case the stock one is dirty And then finally if they would have just installed one of these six dollar Locking gas caps from the beginning we wouldn't have to do any of this So I bought one of these to install when we are all done. So let's go get started And the first thing we need to do is head over to the front of the car and we need to disconnect Our negative battery terminal you want to do this anytime you work on the fuel system and there might be fumes that could ignite With a spark this will prevent any sparks and with that disconnected we could start removing the fuel tank from the car And instead of going under the car to start to unbolt it The first thing we want to do is we want to go inside the car and disconnect the fuel pump So to get to the fuel pump Let's pop out the base of the rear seat by pulling it up like that Then we can remove the seat completely and then that gives us access to our fuel pump which is right under this cover All we need to do is unscrew the four screws here that hold the cover on And then we can move the cover out of the way and get access to the electrical connection to the fuel pump and on this connector There is a red safety tab and you can see there's a little clip on here that we need to push in with the screwdriver And then we can push the tab to the side to unlock it like so Now we can press in the tab on the connector and pull it off the fuel pump So now let's disconnect these three fuel lines. It's very important that these fuel lines are not pressurized. I know in this case It's not pressurized because the car hasn't run in a couple of weeks and a little tip just in case there's some leftover fuel pressure Have a towel nearby That way you could cover the fuel line connector and prevent the fuel from spraying all over the place now We can start off removing the fuel line by first popping this blue tab out like that And then pressing on the tab on the side of the connector and that will allow us to pull the fuel line right off Now with these two fuel lines, there's no blue tab to pull out All you need to do is press on the white tab And then pull the fuel line off like that do the same thing for the other fuel line and beautiful And with all that disconnected now we could drop the fuel tank and fuel pump together without anything getting hung up And this is such a good design if you wanted to replace a fuel pump you could get this done in 30 minutes No problem, and you don't even have to go under the car. I love it more cars should be like that Okay. So now what we need to do is drop the fuel tank and to do that We're gonna go to the back of the car and let me show you where the fuel tank is So let's go under the car and this right here is the fuel tank You can see there is a strap on this side and a strap right here holding the fuel tank up There's also this exhaust piece i'm hoping what we could do is we could angle the fuel tank down and slide it out So we don't have to disconnect this exhaust. Another good thing is our fuel tank is almost empty There's probably less than a gallon of fuel in here. So that's going to make it really easy to manage And before we remove these straps to drop the tank down we want to disconnect the fuel filler line right here So right up there is where the gas cap is and the fuel runs down here into the gas tank So let's loosen up the hose clamp and then carefully pull the hose off the fuel tank And any time you're removing a hose twisting it helps remove it easier. Don't just pull it straight out almost there Good And check it out. All the sugar is coming out of the hose and don't worry We're going to clean that out right after we drop the fuel tank So now let's get a jack stand underneath to support the fuel tank So it won't just drop down then let's remove this bolt which holds the passenger side strap in Good, and now let's remove the other bolt which holds the driver's side strap in just like that So now our tank is being completely supported by that jack stand the strap on this side and the strap On this side is loose So now we need to just get to the bolts on the other sides of the strap And then we could drop this down all the way So let's loosen and remove the bolt on this side and then we can remove the strap And then do the same thing on the other side loosen and remove the bolt and then we could remove the strap Just work it around the exhaust. Okay So now lower the jack stand and let's be careful to slide this tank away from the exhaust. Perfect And then we can slide it right out. And with that our fuel tank is out and something pretty interesting Is this right there that is to prevent you from siphoning fuel. So you can't stick a hose into the fuel tank But that was pretty cool. All right. So now what we want to do is remove the fuel pump So use some compressed air to clean off the dirt and dust on top of the pump so we don't get it in the tank And now we want to remove this metal lock ring that holds the pump in and to do that. We need to twist it Counterclockwise to pop it out you won't be able to do this by hand So get a hammer and a socket or a chisel or a screwdriver something to get into the edge here And just tap it so we can spin it loose Good. So now we can remove the lock ring and then we can remove the pump assembly from the tank as i'm lifting this out There's a fuel line that needs to be disconnected So push that green tab and carefully pull the fuel line off like that Then we can remove the assembly the rest of the way and let's take a look at the damage You can see a bunch of the sugar made its way into the tank. So let's clean this out and to do that Let's first drain the gas from the tank into our catch can and get as much out as you can It won't be perfectly dry But the more you could get out the better Then we could use some towels to soak up the remaining fuel that we couldn't get out and wring it out into the catch can like that So with all the fuel completely removed from the tank, you can see it's bone dry There's also some sugar left and it would take forever to try to get all this sugar out There's just so many little granules. Also, we have this right here. Let me just disconnect this and let's take out this fuel line So the trick to getting all that sugar out is going to be to use a little bit of water So hose down the inside of the tank and then move the tank around to slash the water around inside the tank Basically rinsing it out and dissolving any sugar that there might be left in there Once you rinse the tank now we could empty it out and the water is going to have the sugar dissolved in it So that's how we make sure we remove all of the sugar and then the last thing to do Is to just make sure you try to dry as much as you can inside the tank It doesn't have to be perfect because we're gonna let this sit out in the sun But the more that you get out the better and that looks pretty dry in there All right, so I was able to get my entire arm in there and i'm confident I dried this out really well But I still want to drag this out into the sun so that it gets hot and all the water in there evaporates So as we make sure that there's no water in here at all. And we let this dry and evaporate Let's go head over to the car and look at all the sugar that we just drained out of the fuel tank Now, what do you do with this old gas? Well, you can't really reuse it. I guess you could strain it but it's not worth it. There's not a lot here So what you want to do is you want to put it in a container and recycle It and you're going to want to take this right to your town's recycle center after you finish the job Don't store this inside your house or in a garage because it's flammable So get all the fuel into the container and seal it off good now let's head over to the rear of the car And let me show you how to clean out the fill tube which has all the sugar in it And if you think there's a lot of sugar up here Let's head under the car and take a look at all the sugar that's in this hose Let's see if we could get some of it out. Oh, man. Look at all this sugar. It's just clogging this up So we really need to clean this out. Good before we install our clean fuel tank So first, let's clean out as much sugar as we can from here So i'm going to use a flathead screwdriver and just be careful not to puncture anything You just want to kind of scrape off that sugar and you can see it's coming off in clumps We don't want to force that sugar down if we could help it It's better. If we remove the sugar from the top even though we're going to flush this out so once you remove as much sugar as you can Let's rinse this down with water and then let's get the hose into the filler tube and completely flush this out Now this feels super weird to do but don't be afraid And really let that water flow and force out any sugar that might be stuck in there. All right So with that completely flushed i'm confident all the sugar is out of there, but i'm not confident All the water is out of there. We can't have water going into our clean dry fuel tank So what we're going to do is we're going to get a funnel and then grab your 99 Isopropyl alcohol and pour it down into the filler tube to flush out all the water and any water that mixes with the alcohol Is going to be broken down a little bit and alcohol evaporates very quickly So even if we don't get all the water out, it will evaporate out So now we're just going to let this dry just like how we let the gas tank dry And as that dries, we want to blow out the fuel lines that run all the way to the engine bay We also want to clean out those fuel injectors and the fuel rail So let me show you how to do that Now to get to the fuel rail remove the engine cover and then we need to remove this intake tubing So let's remove the vacuum line then unscrew the hose clamp on the filter air box and pull that tube off and finally over on this side of the engine the Intake tube goes into the throttle body So let's loosen up the hose clamp disconnect the wire from the sensor and let's remove the intake tubing All right with that removed It gives us access to our fuel lines the fuel rail and all four fuel injectors that we'll clean out But before we do that grab a towel and because we took the intake cover off get that towel in the throttle body here So that if any dirt or debris falls in we can easily remove it and it won't get sucked into the engine So with that covered now, let's remove the fuel lines and anytime i'm working with fuel lines I like to add a towel below the area to absorb any fuel that might leak out next Let's pop out the blue tab from the main fuel line Then press the white tab in at the bottom and pull it off the fuel rail Good with the other hose All you need to do is press the green tab in and pull it off like that and then just set this aside now Let's remove the fuel rail, which is right here. There's one screw right here. We have to remove Good, and there's one more screw right here good now we just need to pull and wiggle until it pops out like that Now, let's move the fuel rail up here So it's easier to disconnect the fuel injector wires to disconnect the wires pop up the red tab first Then press in the black tab and pull it off the connector and then let's repeat the process to disconnect the other three injectors All right. So with our fuel rail and fuel injectors disconnected We'll set this aside and one thing I noticed is this is a return-less system So you have one fuel line that goes in right here? And there's no fuel lines coming out in many fuel injected systems You have a fuel line coming out that goes to a fuel pressure regulator But I took a look and the fuel pressure regulator is actually built into the fuel pump assembly That means there's one less line to run all the way back to the engine, which is pretty good So that also means that this line right here is the only line we need to flush This line right here is for the evap system We definitely do not want to blow air or liquid into this so only blow out the lines connected to the fuel rail Which in this case is just this line So let's blow this one out and this line goes all the way back to the fuel tank So if we come back here, let me show you the setup I have I have a catch can right here and then this is our high pressure fuel line This is the fuel line that we're going to be flushing out And then here are the vent tube fuel lines and the evap fuel lines I don't know which one's which but it doesn't matter because we don't have to worry about these So this one is going to drain right into this pan and let's go flush this out Let's see if there's anything in here and to flush out this fuel line. We're going to start by using pressurized air This is connected to my air compressor and you can hear the nozzle is leaking but the pressure is set to 50 psi So just blast air through the line to remove all the fuel like that Okay, so we flushed the fuel line out now It's time to add some 99 Isopropyl alcohol into the fuel line until it's full and we'll know it's full because we'll see it coming out of the other end by the way, never use water in fuel lines odds Are you won't be able to remove it all and then your car won't start Although most the alcohol will evaporate if some gets mixed in with the fuel. It's not a big deal It'll burn with the gasoline and there you go. Now it's starting to come out So now let's flush this out completely with compressed air. And once the alcohol stops coming out we are done And that is all there is to flushing fuel lines It's that simple force the old gas out then add your isopropyl Alcohol and then force that through and that'll push anything out of here that was in here That shouldn't have been in there. Now. You can do that as many times as you want in this case I don't think we have to do it too many times Let's go check out to see what we got out of the fuel line. So this is actually pretty interesting This drain pan was completely clean before we flushed out that fuel line and look at all these specs And they're kind of gritty it's almost like sand or rust or something This would definitely clog up a fuel injector and it's not sugar which means the fuel filter did its job? So that's how you flush out fuel lines and you can see we got some decent results Especially for a new car i'm surprised so flushing out fuel lines pretty simple Let me show you how to clean out the fuel injectors and fuel rail anytime you're working with a fuel rail There will always be leftover fuel in here. So just empty that out before you remove the fuel injectors All right, and once that's completely drained now, let's remove the injectors And all you do is pop this retaining clip off and pull the injector out of the fuel rail like that Then repeat the process with the other injectors pop the clip off pull the injector out pop the clip off Oh and try not to let it go flying and pull the injector out and finally one last clip And one last injector to pull out good. So with all the injectors removed we could clean out our fuel rail Now let's add alcohol to the fuel rail and you can see where my finger is blocking off where the fuel line connects So I could fill it and once it's full slosh it back and forth to clean out the fuel rail Finally drain it out and blow some air into it to flush it out So you could flush your fuel rail a couple of times. I didn't see anything come out of it. This looks pretty clean So now we can just let this dry and let me show you how to clean out the fuel injectors We're gonna do a reverse flush And since we're gonna be cleaning out the fuel injectors And we did find specs in the fuel line that we flushed out I thought it'd be a cool idea to take out the fuel injector tester So let's lock down the four fuel injectors into the machine and run the test This test is gonna put the injectors through conditions that would be similar to if you're driving your car This test also allows you to see the spray pattern to see if they're clogged or not atomizing the fuel properly But in this case, they look really good. So let's let this test finish up And you can see after the test the volume in each of these is exactly the same which is what you want to see But that also means we don't have any sugar in the injectors and they're not clogged up But i'm still going to show you how to clean them out We're going to do a reverse flush, and we're not using this special machine We're going to do it by hand using just the air compressor And this is all you're going to need get a hose that will fit on the end of your fuel injector like that And then I got one of these fuel injector connectors from the junkyard. You just connect it. These are pretty universal So it'll work on most injectors and then this is connected to a 9-volt battery and every time you touch this The fuel injector will fire but this also creates a very small spark So just make sure you're far enough away and don't use gasoline I'm using isopropyl alcohol to clean this that way we don't cause any explosions Now to thoroughly clean these fuel injectors we're going to do something called a reverse flush normally fuel comes in through The top and out through the bottom, but instead we're going to flip it around We're going to force our solvent our alcohol in through the bottom and out through the top and what that's going to do is normally Anything that's stuck in here isn't going to get cleaned out by just pushing it the same direction It normally goes so if we force it in the opposite direction, we'll loosen it up and clean it out That way we could thoroughly clean our fuel injectors The first thing we need to do is make sure the bottom of the injector is clean And you can see there's some deposits. So let's clean them off with a plastic bristle brush That way these deposits don't get forced into the injector when we reverse flush it and now that's looking nice and clean So let's get the hose on the bottom part of the fuel injector connect the wiring harness Add the alcohol to the hose and then use our compressed air to pressurize the hose now All you need to do is click the injector on and off and the air pressure is going to force the alcohol through the injector In reverse to clean it out And then make sure you finish by flushing the injector in the normal direction to make sure it's all cleaned out Beautiful now that is how you clean fuel injectors now. I did the other fuel injectors off-camera so we could speed things up now Let's install these into the fuel rail and to do that What you want is a little bit of silicone paste and you're just going to get some silicone onto the o-rings both the top o-ring And the bottom o-ring and then work your way around you just need a thin layer and this is going to help Lubricate it. So it makes it nice and easy to install and we don't pinch these o-rings It's also a good time to make sure the o-rings don't have any cracks. They're completely round. There's no flat spots There's no damage to them because if there is you should replace them. So you don't have any fuel leaks these look good So let me show you how to install into the fuel rail And all you need to do is take the fuel injector and push it so it goes all the way in just like that And then get your clip and we're gonna install this so it snaps in and that will hold the fuel injector in place So here's an up close shot and you can see the retainer clips into a groove in the injector like that And then we could finish up the last two retaining clips Okay. So with all the injectors in the last thing to do is give each one a nice strong pull and make sure they're in There good. They're not coming out and all the clips are in there properly and they are so now let's go get this installed Installation is pretty straightforward. You want to make sure the injectors seat all the way into the port in the intake So give it a good push and verify each injector is pushed all the way in Then we can reconnect the fuel injector connectors making sure they click in And press that red tab at the top to lock it in now we can screw down the fuel rail So get some medium strength thread locker onto the screw And tighten it down until it's snug don't over tighten these because this just screws into plastic then repeat this process for the other screw Add some thread locker and tighten it down until it's snug now We could remount the evap purge valve onto the fuel rail then connect the main fuel line until it clicks in And don't forget to press that blue tab in then we can push the evap hose onto the purge valve Good now Let's remove the towel keeping the debris out of the intake then install the intake tubing connect that wire to the sensor Tighten the tubing down on the throttle body connect the vacuum line connect the tube to the filter box and tighten it down And finally add the plastic cover Beautiful everything's installed properly the fuel lines the fuel injectors and the fuel rail are all cleaned out The only thing that's not clean is this engine bay. So let's fix that and there we go. Nice and clean So we're all done under here, and I can't wait to start this engine up now The last thing we need to do is get the fuel tank back in the car. And this tank is also really dirty So a little bit of soapy water Then wipe it down And check it out and although you'll never see this gas tank. I still like to clean things up and make them nice and tidy Now, let's install the fuel pump assembly, but i'm not going to be reinstalling the original fuel pump The reason being is twofold one if we take a look down in there It's hard to see but if I flip this over check it out There is a bunch of sugar and also some gunk in there probably varnish from the fuel And the second reason is because right back there is the fuel filter It's built into the fuel pump assembly And anytime you get something that you don't want in your fuel tank, whether it's diesel water sugar, whatever it is You're always supposed to replace the fuel filter And since we can't replace this one i'm going to swap out the entire fuel pump assembly with a brand new oem fuel pump assembly This thing is perfect and i'm doing this also because this car is getting auctioned off for charity I want the next owner to have a perfect running and driving car Now anytime i'm installing new parts. I always check them against the old part to make sure they are identical and these two Are the same so out with the old and in with the new let's go get this installed so first We need to connect the fuel line that we took out of the tank. And don't worry. I cleaned this out Just like we did the other fuel line. So push it so it snaps in good now We need to install the new o-ring that seals the tank And then we can get the pump assembly in being careful not to bend the float next Let's connect the fuel line from inside the tank. So it snaps in Good now we can finish putting the pump assembly into the tank And then let's get that lock ring installed by pushing it down and then hammering the lock ring clockwise to lock it in place Beautiful with all this assembled. Let's install the tank back under the car now We just need to get the tank back into its original spot and i'm so glad they designed this So we don't have to remove the exhaust next use a jack stand to hold the tank in place And let's install the tank straps starting with this one right here as usual I like to use a little medium strength thread locker on the bolts Then we can hold the strap in and then hand tighten both the bolts in place finally torque the bolts down to spec like so Good now we need to do the same thing for the other side So get the strap in place hand tighten those bolts which have some thread locker on them and then torque them down to factory spec Good Now that the tank's bolted in Let's remove the jack stand now Let's finish up under here by putting the hose clamp back on the filler hose And then slide that hose onto the fuel inlet until it's fully seated all the way down the fitting just like that then we can snug up the hose clamp and don't make it super tight because It could crack the plastic fitting just tight enough to clamp the hose so it won't leak And finally the last thing to do is connect our new fuel pump first. Let's get the main fuel line connected So make sure it snaps in and then we just need to connect the other two fuel lines making sure they both click into place Now we can reconnect the wires by pushing it on all the way And don't forget to press that little red tab in to lock it in All right Now we can get the cover in place and then tighten down the four screws at the corners of the cover And finally, let's get the seat back in and press down on each side. So it snaps into place So with our seats installed do not worry. I will be doing an entire video on how to super clean the interior next So stay tuned for that, but for now Let's go get some fuel in our tank So when we start to add fuel only add a little because we need to go under the car and check for leaks And I don't see any leaks at all So that means we could add the rest of the gas to the tank and i'm adding about four gallons That we have enough to get the car started and get to the gas station to fill up And now comes the important part of adding a locking fuel cap Which could have prevented this whole sugar in the tank thing? And then the old cap just pops right off and we are done here And finally, the last thing we need to do is connect the battery so we could go try to start her up So get the ground cable on the post and tighten it down. So it's snug and won't budge beautiful and she is hot So we are ready to go I'm going to leave the hood open because we're going to want to check behind here for any fuel leaks once the car is running So let's go start her up. Oh baby moment of truth. Now. This is a push button I'm used to a key where you could turn it to the run position And then shut it off and turn to the run position and shut it off and that'll prime the fuel pump in this case All we could do is just put our foot on the brake And press it Okay It's still going There we go, and she's running beautiful, okay now we want to go and make sure there are no fuel leaks so first place We'll check is up over here at the engine bay And look behind here and smell you'll smell it right away It'll smell like fuel I don't see any leaks coming from the fuel lines, and I don't smell anything and the next place you want to check Is over here where we disconnected the fuel pump again? If you want you can take the seat up But you could also just smell it'll smell like gas real quick and it doesn't smell and then the final place to check Is to go under the car and just take a quick peek and make sure there's nothing dripping and this all looks good So we're good to go And finally, let's get the car off the ramps and ever since I got this car. I've been dying to go for a ride So let's take her out and make sure she's running properly All right so after driving this car for a few minutes She's running and driving amazing. And that is how you clean the entire fuel system of your car We got rid of all that sugar and she's running great. Now we have to do something about this disgusting interior So there you go. That is how you properly clean out the entire fuel system of your car now I hope this video was helpful. If it was remember to give it a thumbs up If you're not a subscriber consider hitting that subscribe button and as always all the tools and products I use in this video are linked down in the description so you can easily find them and finally I hope you guys stay tuned because the next couple of videos are gonna be awesome how to remove this giant scratch here like If somebody keyed your car and also how to super clean the interior and then we put this car up for auction for charity It's gonna be great stay tuned!
